CORAL SPRINGS-PARKLAND FIRE DEPARTMENT
IN-SERVICE TRAINING Division Chief Michael Caldaro The Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department has strived to maintain the highest level of training and over the past year we have continued to prosper. Our philosophy of safe and functional company training has bolstered the levels of confidence of each member making them more proficient in their personal skills which is a testament to the dedication of our membership and our Training Division. The Training Division has a multitude of responsibilities outside of the development, delivery, and oversight of daily, weekly, and monthly requirements for in-service training to our members. The Training Division recognized the need to restructure to streamline communication and define roles and responsibilities within the division. With the promotion of Michael Caldaro, Captain Anthony Gonzalez was promoted to Battalion Chief assigned to Operations Training. Captain Jonathon Robbins and Lieutenant Johana Cinque were assigned as Training Officers to the Training Division to bring consistent best practices to our members. 2021 would follow the path of 2020 and still prove to be a challenging year for the Training Division as COVID19 continued its path across the nation. The Training Division in collaboration with the Safety, Health, and Wellness Division was able to resume “in-person training” ensuring that members trained within the confines of the COVID-19 policies set forth by the division. The role of the Training Officer is constantly changing, and the members of this division must be ready to pivot their attention at a moment’s notice.
Fire service
training is no longer simply fire based, nor solely decided on a local level. Fire departments are now guided, in part, by national fire service standards, accreditation, certification, and continuing education requirements. There are also increased societal and financial influences with emphasis on topics of firefighter safety, health, and wellness, emergency medical service, expanded roles, large incidents, incident management, current affairs, cultural diversity, ethics, legal issues, and the use of mutual aid and regionalization. The Training Division is focused on implementing the best practices, and creating a workforce that is flexible and proactive, and identifies, reduces, and eliminates redundancies. The Administration’s expectation is our workforce always be well trained, innovative, and 40
